WVU Law's employment rate beats the national average

The employment rate for our Class of 2016 is almost four points higher than the national average.

James Jolly
| Friday, May 19, 2017

MORGANTOWN, WEST VIRGINIA — Graduates from WVU Law are employed at rates higher
than the national average.

That is the message in employment data recently released by the American Bar Association
(ABA) for the Class of 2016 from 204 law schools.

The employment rate for WVU Law’s Class of 2016 is 76.5 percent for full-time, long-term
jobs that are "Bar Passage Required" or "J.D. Advantage" — the gold standard for
law school graduates. That is almost four points higher than national average of
72.6 percent.

“A law degree from WVU definitely has value,” said
Gregory W. Bowman, dean of the College of Law. “It’s a competitive job market
and we work hard to prepare our students for careers in the law. Employers like
what they see in our graduates.”

Overall, the employment rate for WVU Law’s Class of 2016 is 81.7 percent, which is
slightly higher than the national average of 78.6 percent. (This is for Bar
Passage Required, J.D. Advantage and Professional positions that are full time/long
term and part time/short term.)

The WVU Law Class of 2016 beat the national employment rate in two job categories.
Of those graduates reporting, 20 percent have positions in business and industry,
versus 13.5 percent nationally, and 8 percent practice public interest law, versus
4.4 percent nationally.

The Class of 2016 is on par with the national average for employment in private practice
(46 percent versus 45.5 percent), judicial clerkships (9 percent versus 8.9 percent),
and education (2 percent versus 1.6 percent).

Members of the Class of 2016 work in government at a slightly lower rate than the
national average: 9 percent versus 12 percent.

ABA employment data is based on job status 10 months after graduation. For more information,
visit the WVU College of Law
ABA Required Disclosure webpage.